


Safe Practices

by Tedronai



Series: Complex Games [6]
Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: BDSM - discussion thereof, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 02:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8515039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tedronai/pseuds/Tedronai
Summary: “Technically,” he said idly, tracing an old, faded scar across Taim’s hip, “you should have a safe word when we do something like that.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karaburrito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karaburrito/gifts).



> I was gonna save this for a Christmas present but you know what I'll just post it now.

The bruises already visible on Taim’s skin had a strange kind of beauty. Moridin traced the patterns with his fingers — that one wasn’t his doing, it was days old already; he wondered idly if the younger man would tell if he asked about its origin — contemplating if Healing was necessary. It wasn’t his forte, but the damage wasn’t severe enough that it should matter.

Considering he’d nearly killed Taim before — and Taim still seemed to trust him after that — bruises and rope burns weren’t too bad at all.

As he watched, Taim stirred and his eyes fluttered open. His gaze wandered for a moment before focusing on Moridin. “Still here,” he said.

“So it would seem,” Moridin replied. He’d spent the night in the Black Tower instead of summoning Taim to the Blight Fortress; this had been happening more often recently, through no conscious decision, he just kept finding himself in Taim’s bed. The ease with which they’d fallen into this arrangement should probably have been disturbing, but Moridin couldn’t bring himself to care. “Do you want Healing?” he asked.

Taim frowned, then raised a hand to his throat. “That’s probably wise,” he replied slowly. “Any visible bruises might raise awkward questions…”

Moridin chuckled and, trailing his fingers down the younger man’s chest, channelled a trickle of True Power — that didn’t have the side effect of seeing visions of al’Thor, like _saidin_. Taim inhaled sharply as the cold sensation of Healing, more intense than that of the _saidin_ counterpart, washed over him. Then he relaxed again with a contented sigh. Moridin wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that Taim was able to relax so easily in the company of the Nae’blis, but then again he supposed it didn’t matter. Most things ultimately didn’t.

“Technically,” he said idly, tracing an old, faded scar across Taim’s hip, “you should have a safe word when we do something like that.”

“A what?” Taim asked, sounding only mildly curious.

“A safe word,” Moridin repeated. “It’s something established beforehand and utterly inviolable, and if you say it at any point your partner will stop.”

Taim didn’t respond immediately. “A simple ‘stop’ wouldn’t work?” he asked eventually.

“In most cases it would, probably, yes,” Moridin replied. “But sometimes, for some people, begging is part of the game. It’s agreed upon in advance, of course. That your partner doesn’t stop even if you beg, or sometimes even that begging is a signal to get even more rough. And that’s where the safe word comes in; it’s something that can’t be confused as being part of the game and tells your partner that you’re not enjoying it anymore and they need to stop.”

“Oh.” Taim frowned up at the crimson canopy. “That’s something from the Age of Legends, I assume,” he said after a while.

Moridin snorted and rolled over to his back again. “Obviously.” He wondered idly what Eval would say if they saw him now. They’d probably laugh themselves to death. He grimaced, reminded of the stunt Graendal had pulled, which had resulted in Aran’gar’s death and not from laughing. The ranks of the Chosen were growing thin indeed, and he couldn’t count on half of them to get anything done.

…Unlike Taim.

This was not the first time he thought of Taim’s eventual promotion — it had been all but inevitable for a while already, the Great Lord approved, all that remained was to formally introduce him as one of the Chosen… and, of course, to tell the man himself. Somehow there had never been a good time for that.

“Very well,” Taim spoke again after a long silence. “If you think I should have one of those ‘safe words’—” Moridin could practically hear the quotation marks “—I’ll think of one. What about you?”

“Me?” Moridin repeated, startled. “I’m not the one being tied up.”

Taim raised his eyebrows and came as close to smiling as Moridin had ever seen him. “So far, no,” he said. “But who knows… If you had a safe word, maybe you could be?”

The suggestion was completely unexpected, though maybe Moridin should have known to expect it; Taim had been known to take initiative and he wasn’t as intimidated by Moridin as he’d used to be once upon a time. And thinking about it — of course Taim would make him think about it, dammit! — the idea was not such an unpleasant one at all. He could see that Taim was following the track of his thoughts and something like a smirk twitched the younger man’s lips.

“Maybe,” Moridin said. “I’ll consider it.”


End file.
